Schlitz Is Gone, but First It's Getting One Last Hurrah

Recorded: May 24, 2026, 3:58 a.m.

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Schlitz Is Gone, But First It’s Getting One Last Hurrah

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May 14, 2026Brew City Dining & Drink

Photo by Erik Aldrich, Creative Commons 2.0

Schlitz Is Gone, But First It’s Getting One Last Hurrah
An icon of Milwaukee’s beer baron era has been discontinued by Pabst Brewing Co., but Wisconsin Brewing is planning one last toast to Schlitz this summer.

BY Chris Drosner

The “beer that made Milwaukee famous” is dead.
Schlitz, a brand that began in Milwaukee in 1858, has been discontinued by its corporate parent, Pabst Brewing Co. The move is part of a wave of culling of its nostalgia-driven brands.
The news comes, oddly enough, from Wisconsin Brewing Co., which announced on Thursday afternoon that it would be brewing “the last Schlitz” at its brewery in Verona next weekend.
Pabst confirmed the move on Friday. “Unfortunately, we have seen continued increases in our costs to store and ship certain products and have had to make the tough choice to place Schlitz Premium on hiatus,” Zac Nadile, Pabst head of brand strategy, said in a statement to Milwaukee Magazine. “Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future. We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands, and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions.”
Wisconsin Brewing brewmaster Kirby Nelson spearheaded the Schlitz sendoff after hearing about its quiet discontinuation from Jerry Glunz, general manager of Louis Glunz Beer in Chicago. The Glunz family has been a Schlitz distributor since the late 19th century, Nelson says, and Glunz was in tears as he delivered the news.
“Things change, but Schlitz deserves better than just to be swept under the rug,” Nelson says. “It really needs to go out with dignity and respect.”

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Wisconsin Brewing has produced Pabst products in the past, so Nelson reached out and Pabst agreed to allow Nelson to brew, indeed, the final Schlitz. That will happen on Saturday, May 23 at the Verona brewery, and Nelson (one of the state’s great beer communicators) will give a short talk in the taproom at 1 p.m. The beer will roll out in limited qualities June 27 with a big event at the brewery. (Preorders will be available May 23 on Wisconsin Brewing’s website.)
Nelson, who’s been brewing beer for more than 40 years, isn’t just throwing together any old recipe of Schlitz, or replicating the last official brew under the Pabst banner. A breweriana collector friend sent him a trove of records from Schlitz’s Milwaukee brewhouse. Using brewing logs from the mid-20th century, Nelson built a composite recipe, primarily from 1948, when Schlitz was the best-selling beer in the world. “That’s what I’m trying to do: emulate a golden era of Schlitz,” Nelson says. “Let’s see if we can get a beer that represents that.”
To do so, Nelson is using six-row malted barley and 25% yellow corn grits for the mash, while hop records from the ’30s pointed to German Hallertau Mittelfrüh and Washington Cluster.
A Long Shadow in Milwaukee
Even though it hasn’t been made in Milwaukee in at least six years, it’s hard to overstate the impact of losing one of Milwaukee’s original beer baron brands. Schlitz began as a tavern brewery in 1849 founded by August Krug. When he died in 1856, a bookkeeper for the company named Joseph Schlitz took over and, two years later, married Krug’s widow, Anna Maria, and renamed the brewery eponymously.
The memorial to Joseph Schlitz at Forest Home Cemetery is not his grave. Schlitz was lost at sea off the coast of Cornwall in 1875; his body was never recovered. Photo by Chris Drosner
After Schlitz was lost at sea in an 1875 shipwreck off the coast of Cornwall – his body was never recovered, despite the elaborate marker at Forest Home Cemetery – the Uihlein brothers began running and later owning the company, though they kept the name.
During the late 19th and early 20th century period when Milwaukee’s brewing industry grew into the industrial age, Schlitz grew in kind – in part due to its success in Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1934, just after Prohibition ended, Schlitz became the top-selling beer in the world, and it stayed there for decades. It seized on its contribution to Brew City with its long-running slogan, “the beer that made Milwaukee famous.”
But in the early 1970s, the company walked itself into disaster by changing its ingredients and processes to cut costs. Loyal drinkers quit Schlitz in droves over the beer’s dramatically altered flavor profile, and the brand became a punchline. In 1982, the Uihleins – who spun their fortune into Uline business products company and remain one of Wisconsin’s wealthiest families – sold Schlitz to Stroh Brewing, ending its run as a true Milwaukee beer.
Pabst purchased the Schlitz brand in 1999 and in 2008 relaunched it with a new, supposedly 1960s-era formula. Schlitz settled into a crowded role in Pabst’s profile: a nostalgia-driven value beer that had more regional success than national cachet, a dive bar $3 tallboy. There are a lot of those kinds of beers these days, but not many that have the story that matters this much to Wisconsin, and particularly Milwaukee, drinkers.
That’s why Nelson wanted to give it a proper sendoff. “I take this stuff seriously,” Nelson says. “It’s a love letter to Wisconsin.”

beerKirby Nelsonpabst brewingschlitzschlitz beerschlitz brewingwisconsin brewing company

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Chris Drosner

Executive editor, Milwaukee Magazine. Aficionado of news, sports and beer. Dog and cat guy. (Yes, both.)

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The discontinuation of the Schlitz brand, once emblematic of Milwaukee's beer baron era, has prompted a final commemorative event by Wisconsin Brewing Co., reflecting on the brand's rich history and cultural significance. The decision stems from Pabst Brewing Co.'s strategic choice, which cited increasing costs associated with storing and shipping certain products, leading to the hiatus of Schlitz Premium. Pabst head of brand strategy, Zac Nadile, indicated that the discontinuation allowed for a necessary step, acknowledging that the brand remains a cherished part of history and that customer feedback influences future brand considerations. This decision followed a conversation with Jerry Glunz, the general manager of Louis Glunz Beer in Chicago, and was spearheaded in part by Wisconsin Brewing brewmaster Kirby Nelson, who felt the brand deserved a respectful farewell rather than being overlooked.

Nelson initiated the final sendoff by partnering with Pabst, allowing Wisconsin Brewing to brew the last Schlitz at their Verona facility. This event is scheduled for Saturday, May 23, with Nelson providing a talk in the taproom, and the beer will be released in limited quantities on June 27. Nelson approached this project by seeking to emulate a golden period of Schlitz, drawing upon brewing logs from the mid-twentieth century, particularly those from 1948 when Schlitz was globally dominant. To achieve this emulation, Nelson utilized six-row malted barley and twenty-five percent yellow corn grits for the mash, incorporating hop records from the 1930s, such as German Hallertau Mittelfrüh and Washington Cluster, into his composite recipe.

The trajectory of Schlitz reveals a complex evolution within the brewing industry. The brand originated in Milwaukee as a tavern brewery in 1849, founded by August Krug. After Krug’s death, the company evolved, eventually being held by the Uihlein brothers. Schlitz achieved its zenith in the brewing landscape due to its success in Chicago following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, ultimately becoming the world's top-selling beer in 1934 and cementing its status with the slogan, "the beer that made Milwaukee famous." However, this peak was followed by a decline in the early 1970s when the company altered ingredients and processes to reduce costs, which caused significant dissatisfaction among loyal consumers regarding the altered flavor profile. The brand subsequently faced further changes, culminating in the Uihleins selling Schlitz to Stroh Brewing in 1982, marking the end of its tenure as a true Milwaukee beer. Pabst later acquired the Schlitz brand in 1999 and relaunched it in 2008 with a reformulated recipe, positioning it within Pabst as a nostalgic value beer rather than a brand defined by significant regional history. Nelson views this final production as a tribute, emphasizing that the brand represents a deep connection to Wisconsin.